The book is great and totally serious and glibly militaristic. One thing that stands out for me is that Heinlein had women piloting starships at a time when they were mostly serving the coffee and getting knocked up by hideous aliens prior to being rescued by the manly heroes. I like the idea of the MI having a gizmo no bigger than a stick of gum that can replicate an entire orchestra which is pretty much what we have now

The film is a satire (something lost on some of the cast apparently) and great in terms of an action pic. What a shame they didn't have the money to do the power armour and didn't get to include Sarah Brightman's eponymous hit;
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wwilCs4Jqg]Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip - I Lost My Heart To A Starship - YouTube[/ame]